Let's get motivated! This workshop is designed to help you find
the time and the inspiration to write. No more staring at a blank screen. Come
to this workshop and learn the five keys to beating procrastination. Then give
yourself a kick-start and discover how to keep going. This creativity workout
will get your words flowing and help you make the breakthrough into the next
level of writing.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has
been a book editor and creative writing teacher for more than 25 years. He
teaches creative writing at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere
from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Charlottetown. But his proudest boast
is that he has helped many of his students get their first book published.

Fee: 40.71+ 13% hst = 46 paid
in advance by mail or Interac
or 43.36 + 13% hst = 49 if you wait to pay at the door

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Wanted to let you know my debut novel, Come
Away With Me, hit the shelves August 25th – in case you wanted to share a success story with your classes : )

Karma Brown

An unexpected journey leads one woman to discover that life after loss
is possible, if only you can find the courage to let go…

One minute, Tegan Lawson has everything she could hope
for: an adoring husband, Gabe, and a baby on the way. The next, a patch of
black ice causes a devastating accident that will change her life in ways she
never could have imagined.

Tegan is consumed by grief—not to mention her anger
toward Gabe, who was driving on the night of the crash. But just when she
thinks she's hit rock bottom, Gabe reminds her of their Jar of Spontaneity, a
collection of their dream destinations and experiences, and so begins an
adventure of a lifetime.

Yay, Karma!

From the bustling markets of Thailand to the flavors of
Italy to the ocean waves in Hawaii, Tegan and Gabe embark on a journey to
escape the tragedy and search for forgiveness. But they soon learn that grief
follows you no matter how far away you run, and that acceptance comes when you
least expect it. Heartbreaking, hopeful and utterly transporting,Come Away with Meis
an unforgettable debut and a luminous celebration of the strength of the human
spirit.

(On the south side of Lakeshore, just
east of Bronte Road, across from a big grocery store. Lots of parking around
the back. Map here.)

This is the night that graduates of Brian
Henry’s writing classes and random readers of Quick Brown Fox strut their
stuff. We’ll have a line-up of the most amazing emerging writers west of
Toronto, and they’ll be reading some of the best work you’ll hear this year.
Don’t miss it!

But Tonight
poetry by our hostess, CJ Martin

This reading night will also be a
send-off for CJ Martin who will soon be closing her cafe and moving on to a new adventure. To help her on her way and to show our appreciation for
hosting our reading nights all these years, I’ve arranged to have CJ’s
collection of poetry,But Tonight, available
for sale at the reading night.

Copies will be signed by the author and are
available for only $10 (regularly priced at $17.95). ~ Brian

Note: This fall, I have a full line-up of six
weekly courses for beginners through advanced. See details of all six fall
courses here.Or here's the schedule...

Red Hen Press also has five other annual awards.
See details of all of themhere. Plus, Red Hen publishes books of fiction,
nonfiction and poetry. Guidelineshere.

Third Annual Rising
Spirits Writing Contest is now open!

The Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) Writers’
Circle is pleased to announce that the 2015 Rising Spirits Writing Contest is
now open. Winners will receive prize packages valued at $100 and will be
published in the Rising Spirits Anthology 2.

The theme is Autumn. What does the spirit
of this season mean to you?

Categories include: Fiction, Nonfiction,
Poetry, and Youth entries.

Deadline: September 30, 2015. Full contest rules and submission formhere.

Melted Wingis an online journal/discussion of
depression, despair, suicide, and other dark matters. Seeks fiction, poetry,
journalism, and visual art by engaging and uncommon new voices. Want their readers
to be “surprised and delighted by the breadth of what we hope to be a
conversation about acts, feelings, and thoughts [experienced] in our tightrope
walk from birth to death.”

Rhizomatic Ideas, the bi-weekly
blog of Zoetic Press, is accepting blog
posts and pitches for serial blog posts. Open to posts on any topic related to
writing, publishing, academia, and the life of a working writer (or reader.)
Length: 300-500 words.

Also, Zoetic Press is looking for the best and most innovative in electronic and interactive
literature, regardless of genre. It’s not enough that your story be novel in
presentation – it must also be well-written, compelling and engaging.
Guidelines here.

"Omg, it's amazing!
Brilliant, witty, hilarious and at the same time brought out the reality kids
are facing in school. Go figure, my eyes were watery reading some parts of the
book!" – Patty Sim.

Read more about Speechless at Scholastic Canada here.Note: Along
with Yasemin Ucar,senior editor at Kids Can Press, Jennifer will will be one of guest speakers at theWriting for Children and for Young
Adultsworkshop,
Saturday, Sept 12, in Toronto. Detailshere.

If you want to write the next best-selling
children’s books or just want to create stories
for your own kids, this workshop is for you. Learn how to write stories kids
and young adults will love and find out what you need to know to sell your
book.Special option: You may, but don't have to, bring 3 copies of the
opening couple pages (first 500 words) of your children’s book or young adult
novel (or 1,000 words if that will get you to the end of your picture book or
to the end of your first chapter.) If you’re not currently working on a
children’s story, don’t worry, we’ll get you started on the spot!

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging
by Louise Rennison, one of the best-selling
author Yasemin has worked with

Workshop leader Brian Henry has
been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He
publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada’s most popular blog for writers and
is the author of a children’s version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Tribute
Publishing Inc). But his proudest boast is that he’s has helped many
of his students get published.

Guest speaker Yasemin Ucar is a
Senior Editor at Kids Can Press. Altogether, she’s been a children’s book
editor for seventeen years. She worked at Scholastic Canada before moving to
the UK in 2001, where she worked as a Senior Editor at Piccadilly Press in
London, managing a list of about 25 titles a year.

She moved back to Toronto in 2006 and worked as a
freelance editor for six years for several publishers, including Scholastic,
Second Story Press, Madison Press Books, and HarperCollins. She joined Kids Can
Press in 2012.

Yasemin has worked with many popular and
award-winning authors and illustrators, including international bestselling
author Louise Rennison, Barbara Coloroso, Anne Velleneuve, Pierre Pratt,
Caroline Adderson, and Ashley Spires.

We will also have author Jennifer Mook-Sang as a guest speaker. Jennifer lives and writes
in Burlington. She’s as amazed as anyone to find she’s a published
author. Her humorous middle grade novel Speechlesswas started in one of Brian Henry’s classes and
will be released by Scholastic in September.

Jennifer was a finalist in the Writing for Children
Competition 2014 sponsored by CANSCAIP and The Writer’s Union of
Canada. (For information on this year’s CANSCAIP/Writers’ Union contest,
see here.) At the workshop, Jennifer will speak
about how she got her first book published.

P.S. The book launch for Speechless will
be held 2:00 pm Sunday, October 4th, at A Different Drummer Books in Burlington
(513 Locust Street). All welcome!

Fee: 40.71+
13% hst = 46 paid in advance by mail or Interac
or 43.36 + 13% hst = 49 if you wait to pay at the door

To reserve a spot now, email brianhenry@sympatico.caNote: Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the box to the right under my bio, and get each post delivered to your Inbox. ~ Brian

Monday, August 24, 2015

Note: Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the box to the right under my bio, and get each post delivered to your Inbox. ~ BrianKuhn Projectsprimarily represents adult nonfiction. The newest
member of the team is Sarah Levitt. Sarah previously worked at The Zoë Pagnamenta
Agency for five years. She received her BA in Classics and English from NYU.

Sarah is interested in serious
nonfiction (biography, cultural history, memoir, science, “ideas” books, and
narrative), in addition to voice-driven, imaginative, literary fiction that
demands a reaction from the reader.

But
the best way to grow as a writer or to get your manuscript ready for
publication may be with a weekly class. This fall,
Brian will offer a full line-up of six weekly courses for beginners through
advanced. See details of all six fall courses here.Or here's
the schedule...

“Nightcrawler
is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen,” says William Henry. “It’s up there
with Birdman. Certainly, Nightcrawler
is the best thriller I’ve seen.” And William sees a lot of movies. “About
two a week,” he says, "when there’s nothing good out, more when there’s
something worth seeing. “ He catches all the movies at Cineplex, except the 18A
flicks (because he’s only 13), plus movies at the Kingsway (a repertory cinema)
and at the TIFF Bell Lightbox (an art house venue in downtown Toronto).

“Nightcrawler is disturbing, partly
because it shows a dark side of the news industry. Stuff like this actually
happens,” says William. “Plus, there are lots of points in the movie where it’s
like, ‘Wow, I did not see that coming.' And it’s great acting.

“Most importantly, Nightcrawler is way better than Hot
Tub Time Machine 2,” which is something William says after every movie he
sees.

William Henry is a
professional actor and amateur movie buff. This fall, he’ll be going into grade eight. More adventures with William at the movies here.

Review by
Charlene Jones:

The acting convinces, the script sizzles,
scenes are humorous and the message, dark and slimy, delivers. All of this
comes across in Nightcrawler, the
slightly creepy film by director Dan Gilroy.

First the acting: some early scenes slide
by so smoothly you almost believe Gyllenhaal’s character, Louis Bloom really
says that’s his name. But he doesn’t. Committed to lying the way a politician
commits to her career, Louis calls himself Lou Lebloom but so quietly, so effectively the
sound and the message about Louis rides under the radar.

Nor does Rene Russo’s character seem to
mind the lies as they turn up, dead fish floating on a river of greed and ambition.
Frustrated because she got a detail wrong? Yes. Morally upset? The character
she plays finds morals a slight obstacle on the scale of a no-see-um insect on
a hot summer night. Nothing a good swat, physical or mental, can’t cure. And
cure the question of morals this character easily does in the quest for
bloodier, more flesh flailed footage of urban terror and destruction.

Riz Ahmed, a newbie to my eyes,
configures the loser, living almost on the streets of LA, desperate but naive
with aplomb. We believe him as he manifests his understanding of equality with
his employer, Louis Bloom. It is this uttered belief in the American Dream that
results in such tragedy.

And ultimately it is the scourged inner
seam of the American (read Canadian) dream that rises with bilge from the belly
of this production. Success demands you leave your humanity at the door, there
is no success like excess and, oh yes, the favorite trope of our latest social
insights: corporations are run by psychopaths.

It’s a great film.

Charlene
Jones’poetry has most recently
appeared on Commuterlit.
Her poem “Visitors to the ROM” was a runner up in the Ontario Poetry
Society’s annualArborealispoetry contest. Charlene also writes for her radio program Off the Top with
Whistle Radio, 102.7 fm, aired every second Tuesday from 3:00 to 3:30 p.m.
(Note: Whistle Radio and CommuterLit have recently teamed up to run a monthly
contest. Detailshere.)
You can see Charlene perform her poetry and prose atPortobello
Restaurant and Barthe first Saturday every month
in Toronto. Finally, Chalene’s first
novel, The Stain, was was released in 2014.

Brian Henry has been a book editor, writer, and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He teaches creative writing at Ryerson University. He also leads weekly creative writing courses in Burlington, Mississauga, Oakville and Georgetown and conducts Saturday workshops throughout Ontario. His proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published.